11.17.2005

it's back

I knew it would happen, I've been in denial for at least a month or two. Winter. it's here. and it brought with it snow and whipping cold winds. grrrrreeeeeaaaat... my favorite.

I guess the one good thing about winter, I can sit inside under a blanket and knit and not feel guilty. ok, honestly, I can do that in the summer too... I don't get guilty about knitting or sewing or weaving... because I am doing something, I'm not laying on the couch watching soaps and eating bon bons.

I finished the hat part of the hat, all that is left is the chin strap... which might take forever... I cast on 6 stitches and it has to be 26 inches long. yeah, twenty-six inches. sheesh.

Christmas present number one is half done. It's a not-girly-at-all-scarf. Christmas present number two is not quite threaded onto the loom yet. I have the reed threaded, just have to thread the heddles and tie all the ends. That's the time consuming part, the actual weaving will go quick. Christmas presents number three and four are still ideas in my head.

Who are they all for? I'll never tell.

I haven't done anything to the shibori panels. I think I have decided to do hand stitching on them, instead of peeling off the fused pieces. Maybe that will be on the agenda for my time off after Christmas. I like to save a week or so of vacation days and have the whole week between Christmas and New Years off work. it's great, just like being in high school again, without the homework.

I registered for my last semester of school last week. I am taking one more textiles class and Physical Science 101 with lab. I knew it, I knew I would leave one stupid academic class for last. Oh well, it shouldn't be too bad. I took physical science in high school and a biology and chemistry class, this should be review, right? The scariest class I ever took was Chemistry. I took it at the local community college, the lecture part was fine, but the lab was awful. Everything was easy, I understood everything we read, but I could barely make out what the lab instructor was saying. She had a VERY thick Asian accent. That was only half of the problem. The other half was the students in the class. I could not beleive the dumb things they were doing. My lab partner and I were seriously afraid. The worst part, the three students across from our lab station, were all nursing students. They couldn't measure liquids in a beaker, they couldn't follow instructions and their results were frequently wrong. I took a mental note of what they all looked like, in case I'm ever hurt and run into them again.

Tomorrow, I learn to knit in the round. Mom's going to teach me to knit mittens! I did a swatch of my Manos del Uruguay yarn on size 8 needles; perfection! After the mittens, I'll be attempting either socks or a sweater. Possibly both. I have a feeling that I will succumb to the sock obsession. Once I learn to knit in the round, I can make some better baby booties. I was just not impressed with the one I finished.